Echoes
by DhampyrX2
Summary: The final battle with Aizen is at hand. Momo in a moment of foolish hope has arrived on the field of battle against orders to try to talk some sense into her captain. Unfortunately Toshiro has paid the price as he lies wounded at her feel after protecting


Title: Echoes

Author: DhampyrX2

Genre: Drama X-over

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Don't sue me, I'm poor.

Summary: The final battle with Aizen is at hand. Momo in a moment of foolish hope has arrived on the field of battle against orders to try to talk some sense into her captain. Unfortunately Toshiro has paid the price as he lies wounded at her feel after protecting her from a death blow. Now, she must face her beloved captain's crimes under the harsh glare of reality and remember who she really is.

_Indicates thoughts_

"Indicates speech"

--

The final battle against Sosuke Aizen's forces as he tried to storm the castle of the King of the Shinigami was a long and bloody one. Shinigami, Hollow, and Arrancar all fell as both sides clashed in a struggle brought forth by one man's ambition.

For Hinamori Momo, fukutaicho of the Fifth Division of the Gotei 13 it was a wake-up call to what she had been denying about her former captain Aizen. Sadly that wake-up call came at a heavy price as she watched one of her oldest and dearest friends in Soul Society crumble to a blood heap at her feet.

"Toshiro-chan!" Momo cried as she knelt to check on the boy-captain of the Tenth Division that has just intercepted a death blow meant for her at the hands of her former superior.

"M..o...mo," Hitsugaya ground out weakly as he looked her in the eye. "Run," he pleaded before collapsing back to the ground in pain.

"Such a waste. Still that is the ultimate end for all Shinigami. For all our supposed strengths we are limited. Fortunately I have risen past those limits haven't I, Momo?" Aizen purred in the calm and even timbre that used to make Hinamori feel as if the safest place she could be was at his side.

Now, for the first time, she was seeing the truth. He wasn't kind or gentle. He was a monster just like everyone had been saying. One that made Ichimaru Gin look humble and sane by comparison.

"Sadly, my dear, he was only delaying the inevitable. You are a loose end that needs to be tied up. An insignificant one, true. But still I abhor the thought of leaving matters unattended," Aizen annouced as he moved to advance on her.

"Tobiume, sn-" Momo spat, before being cut off with a blast of Kido from Aizen that knocked her zanpakuto, the representation of her spirit from her hands and sent her flying a good fifty feet back away from would-be executioner until she hit a large boulder with a sickening thud.

"You monster," Momo whispered to herself through the pain as she watched the man she worshiped nearly as a god approach her without an ounce of remorse of compassion on his face.

Momo tried to stand to face her end, before her knees gave out and she collapsed in a heap at the base of the stone.

"Silly little girl. You always were too trusting. After I left the chains of Soul Society I would have thought you would know you should be wary of me," Aizen commented.

..._should be wary..._ Momo thought through the pain. _Why does that sound familiar? Why did I trust him like that. It's not like he was there my whole life. It's not like he was Beej. But who is Beej?_ she thought in confusion.

_**"It is the order of this court that the two of you be separated. Despite the potential stabilizing influence Ms. Deetz has demonstrated her death can only lead to her being unduly influenced by you as she resides here full time. We have no intention of letting another of your nature corrupt my kingdom."**_

"Vince c'mon you're a friend of Lyds' too. You can't do this."

"My word is law in the Neitherworld. You should remember that. Her spirit will be flung through time and space to reside in another afterlife, far away from here where you cannot reach her. Her memories will fade to nothing over the course of the trip and the threat she poses will be removed."

"This is because she turned you down when she was younger isn't it?"

"Silence!"

"Beej, help me!"

"Lyds, babes. I swear I'll find a way to get to you. And if you need me you know what to do. Just try to remember. Please remember."

Remember...

Remember..

Remember.

"I remember," Momo muttered.

Her utterance made Aizen stop short and tilt his head a bit as he wondered what the girl was talking about. "Remember? And what do you remember?"

"Who I am. Who I was when I was alive. And an old friend," Momo, no Lydia replied. Her name was Lydia Deetz.

"How fascinating. It's strange to remember anything of your old life so long after your death. Still it doesn't matter. You will be dead again soon enough," Aizen replied with the same kind smile he would give her when he praised her efforts as his lieutenant.

"Not this time, buster," Lydia growled to herself as she closed her eyes and said the words that once meant so much to her.

"Though I know I should be wary,  
Still I venture someplace scary.  
Ghostly hauntings I turn loose..." She began to chant.

_Is this some new form of kido?_ Aizen wondered to himself as lightning began to crack overhead and the air seemed to become saturated in a strange kind of power he had never experienced before.

"Beetlejuice, BEETLEJUICE, **BEETLEJUICE**!!"

Aizen wondered just what had happened as the skies grew dark and a mad cackle filled the air, accompanied by a strange striped shadow that would appear with the bolts of lightning. Still the strange atmospheric conditions were nothing compared to the feeling he experienced as he heard two fateful words...

"It's Showtime!"


End file.
